Narrative viewpoint in the Indian Ramayana epic

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1067.2021-0003

Abstract

Viewpoint is a key structural matter. The author can not describe and narrate any events about life without selecting a viewpoint for things and phenomena. The artistic point of view is just a means that helps the readers and listeners have a deeper look at the artistic structure of the work to better understand the ideological content and values as well as artistic values of the work. When studying the narrative viewpoint in the Indian Ramayana epic, we want to consider the technique of choosing the author’s position in the spatial and temporal coordinates to observe and tell to the listeners and readers. We have found that the narrative viewpoint is structured very flexibly in the creation of the epic writer, and narrator in the Ramayana epic. That is the narrator’s omniscient viewpoint with the shift of point of view in space and time, showing the attitude and feelings of descendants with the “absolute past” at the unchanging viewpoint.